more clamp--cardcaptor sakura, yay!

Okay, recently I decided to get back to my roots and read the very first Manga I ever really loved--none other than CLAMP's incredibly popular Cardcaptor Sakura!  I adored the manga and own the whole original series (the first six books), but I'd never watched the anime.  And so I resolved to do so!  And I'm so happy to say I found it still very sweet and fun to watch.
The plot is actually shockingly similar to Pokemon.  Sakura, a fourth-grade girl, has to run around collecting magical cards that have escaped from the Book of the Clow and come to life, causing trouble for everyone in her hometown of Tomoeda.  Now, with the help of her magical sidekick Kero-chan (or Cerberus), her video-camera-obsessed best friend Tomoyo (who also happens to be equally obsessed with making fancy costumes for Sakura to wear while she's filming), and occasionally her rival, Li-kun, she must return all the cards to their original form.  For it is prophesied that should the seal on the cards be broken...disaster will befall the earth... (cue dramatic musical interlude)

But, yeah, it's definitely a Shoujo of the "Magical Girl" genre.  Personally, the anime worked really well in my opinion, but the book had a way better ending.  The anime's ending was kinda lame...probably because they went and made a movie afterward...

clamp and their magic knights

Yeah.  This one was like-- WHAT THE CUPCAKE IS WRONG WITH YOU, CLAMP?!  Sorry, sorry, just venting.  Warning, this will pretty much spoil the entire first story arc of the first three Magic Knight Rayearth book from CLAMP.  SPOILERS AHEAD.  If you don't like spoilers, flee for your very life.  Or something like that.
Anyway, I was like, GAH!?  What the--AUGH!  EMARUDE, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!  Stupid crazy Pillar system.
Long story short.  Cephiro is a land where one's willpower determines reality, and the Princess, or Pillar, has the ultimate power over the land, but she must only care about that land and pray for it's peace and happiness.  Princess Emarude (reigning Pillar of Cephiro) is "abducted" by her priest, Zagato.  This causes her to be unable to keep the peace, happiness, etc., and Cephiro is filled with monster, blah blah blah... but.  Like, she summons the "Magic Knights" (three ordinary girls from our world with incredible willpower) to defeat Zagato.  Which is a lie because after they beat Zagato, she's all like, "I really summoned you to kill ME, because I fell in love with Zagato and cared about him before Cephiro, which was the REAL cause of all this pain.  And neither I nor anyone from my world can kill me.  Oh, and I have a crazy alter personality who's about to kill you for killing Zagato."
Yeah, that didn't really fly.
But, like, Emarude and Zagato actually both die.  Which is, like, the WORST ending EVER.  I hate it when stories end so sadly.  All three Magic Knights were so sad...  Maybe, somewhere out there, there's been worse endings, but this was pretty bad.  It's so... so the opposite of the things that make a story (to me) feel complete.
The second series, of course, has an actually way better ending.  It's pretty much the finish I wish the first series could've had--where the characters save EVERYONE, and then all eat cake together, etc.  I get that some people like sad stories, but really.
Such miserable endings make the whole story feel pointless to me... which is super sad because the rest of the story is AWESOME.  Gorgeously illustrated, nicely planned, entertaining and even funny.

Anyway, sorry for venting at you.  No one really reads this anyway, so it's kind of liberating.  But... nevertheless, I feel better now!  I will continue to believe in hope--For real life and stories.